Question: “I am sure many admin assistants have asked this question before. But I have not read anything lately about it. How do you deal with feeling like your opinion is not important enough and not being considered?” — Anonymous

Question: “When I started at my company, I worked for two senior execs. Now, I also work for the president. I handle all of their office and personal work, which includes personal errands for the president. On my review, it was stated that I am not enthusiastic about everything that I am asked to do. I’ve never refused a request, but I don’t want enthusiasm to be interpreted that I need more to do. I am frequently complimented by customers and co-workers on my helpfulness. I also work overtime every day on an unpaid basis. I noted this on my last review comments. But the president keeps bringing up the ‘enthusiasm’ comment on my review. How should I respond to this comment?” — Anonymous

Question: “How do you tactfully tell a co-worker/friend, who recently received a promotion to an upper-level management position, that she needs to dress more professionally? She dressed very nice for the interviews, but the next day she was back to wearing wrinkled, sloppy clothing. She will be meeting potential donors and prominent business people, but she doesn’t seem to have a clue about her style. How can I help her succeed in her new position without hurting a friendship?” — Want to Help

Question: “I am the receptionist for a large assisted living facility.  Visitors must sign in at the reception desk and then wear a visitor badge.  People do not like this and have told me it’s none of my business who they are or why they want to visit. I explain that it is for the visitor’s safety as well as that of our residents. Any ideas or suggestions how best to handle this?” — Gwen O’Brien

Question: “I will be meeting with upper management about establishing basic company policies. Some long-time employees come and go whenever and spend too much time on the Internet or personal calls. It’s starting to affect morale. How do I convince them that the company needs ‘basic’ policies such as progressive discipline, drug/alcohol abuse, annual reviews, fair and consistent treatment, etc.?” — Pat

Question: “Our company has a tuition reimbursement program and I've inquired about taking advantage of that little-used benefit.  (I'm currently an executive secretary with 10-plus years’ experience, and I'm ready to finally get my degree.) My managers have requested a "marketing package" to sell them on it.  (I work in the corporate executive offices, and I plan to work toward a BS degree in business administration.) How should I market myself and what should I include?” — KNL

Question: “I work in an office with all men. My boss is wonderful except he forgets that I’m part of the team, too. For example, he recently gave all the guys a hooded sweatshirt with the company logo, but he failed to give me one. I don't want to sound selfish, but I’d like to have one. What’s the best way to handle this situation without sounding greedy?"  -- A team member, too

Question: “I admit to being a nit-picker when it comes to grammar, punctuation and spelling.  I also know from personal experience that it’s not easy to accurately proofread my own work products because my mind reads what I intended to write rather than what I actually wrote.  I’m a little concerned that, from what I read in the responses to this Forum, either we’re not proofing our work prior to hitting the “send” button, or as a community we don’t have a very good handle on our grammar, punctuation and spelling.  We are usually the ones responsible for proofing the work of others, so I’d like to know – are we just not worrying about traditional standards these days?  If you do try and maintain high standards, what tricks do you use to proof your own work before it goes out?  (I read the work product out loud, which forces me to see what is really written.)” — Kathy

Question: “I am part of a team of assistants for a dozen bosses.  We all sit near each other with a lead member, an intermediate and a junior.  I am the junior member.  The intermediate member acts like she is very busy with her assignments, however, she constantly asks me to take over her tasks because she states that she is too busy.  I have plenty of assignments myself, but I am hungry to learn more.  So I have accepted some of these requests.  It is becoming burdensome to continue picking up her work.  How can I communicate this to her without sounding like I am not a team player?” — Jeani Easterly

Question: “I am looking for a few good questions to ask strangers at any kind of function. I can carry on a decent conversation with anyone who comes up to me first, but I have a terrible time being the ‘ice-breaker.’” — Dana Morvak

Question: “When I first started my position as operations administrative assistant, department staff and supervisors completed their own procurement statements and gas receipt reconciliations. Because my schedule and workload permitted me to help other departments, I volunteered to reconcile the statements and receipts for 12 operation departments. With growing responsibilities to the director of operations (my direct boss), it’s difficult for me to continue helping with these two responsibilities. I would like to return reconciliation responsibility back to the department staff and supervisors. How do I tactfully and respectfully return this responsibility to them?” — Rita Yanz

Question: “Does anyone know of a good resource on writing formal thank you letters that also offers examples? The person I am writing for prefers the more traditional style of writing. The thank you letters are for donations of time or money to organizations that provide assistance to the public.” — Wordless

Question: “Earlier this year, my boss promised me a salary increase by midyear. When I reminded him, he said he'd forgotten … and then did nothing. (Other employees have had similar issues with him.) How should I approach him about honoring his promise? This is putting a strain on our working relationship!” — Judy, Minneapolis

Question: I need to send a thank you letter to the families of some of our team members who have been working extra long hours on a specific project. This letter needs to tell the families how much we appreciate their "spouse, mom, dad, etc." spending time away from their family. Got any templates along those lines? I was hoping not to have to start from scratch. -- Caron Nugent

Question: I work in a five-person branch office, and the lease on our office space expires at the end of December. As a result, a person from the home office will be coming to my office to determine whether our lease should be renewed (in other words, whether we're worth the money) or whether our responsibilities should be absorbed into the home office. If any of you have been through a similar situation, I'd love to hear your suggestions regarding what I should say when the decision maker speaks to me.  -- Lisa

Question: For the second year in a row, I have composed a short e-mail invite to the managers and supervisors on staff. Another employee informed me that the words managers and supervisors should be capitalized. It’s very common in the business profession today not to capitalize titles, especially in the context I am using. (“I have revised a new schedule this year for the managers/supervisors to serve the luncheon.”)

What is the correct capitalization in this situation? It would be helpful if I could point to a reference book or similar authority when replying to this person.  -- Aida

Question: When a job advertisement asks for salary requirements along with your resume, what is the appropriate manner in which to state it?  -- Lori

Question: Having been here five years, I'm the newest person in my office. I'm also the youngest admin here by at least 20 years. However, I have 15 years of experience as an administrative assistant/office manager.

Recently, I was given the task of developing some training programs for admins. Can anyone suggest how to begin this sort of program, given the fact that, while I've received many compliments from "higher ups" on my skills and efficiency, some admins think there is nothing more to learn ... and, especially, nothing that I can teach them since I'm the "young thing," as they say.

I don't want to come across as a know-it-all, but at the same time, some people haven't bothered to keep their skills current and there really is room to grow.  -- Ann

Question: During a performance review, how do you tactfully discuss with an employee -- point out to an employee -- that he or she spends way too much time visiting with co-workers in surrounding cubicles?  -- Jean

Question: We have two or three regional meetings a year, and my boss -- the EVP -- likes to have employees' comments after each meeting. He wants to know if they feel that they benefited from attending; to rate the presentations/speakers; to see if they feel we can do something better or improve on; and, of course, for their suggestions for future meetings. He also wants them to be "anonymous" so employees feel they can comment how they like and not how they think we want.

I have searched the Web numerous times -- even Microsoft templates -- to find a feedback/comment card template, etc., but have come up empty-handed. Does anyone have any suggestions and/or templates of their own they can send?

Additionally, because employees have no time at the meetings to give us their comments back, they will need to take the forms with them and submit them once completed. Do you have any suggestions on how to go about this so when they're returned to me, via U.S. mail, I won’t be able to know whom or where they came from?

Thanking you in advance for your any assistance I receive.  -- Brenda, bsamartino@kimcorealty.com

Question: I've heard that reading a document aloud helps you catch more errors than reading it to yourself. Anybody out there have any experience with that?  -- Julia

Question: Whenever I talk to my supervisor, she crosses her arms and moves here eyes around the room. I've always heard that this kind of body language indicates mistrust. Any suggestions about what I can do if that's true?  -- Worried

Question: I would like to meet with my peers from our 11 other plants and other persons such as A/P, A/R and any other persons  who may pertain to our job from the corporate office.  We have plants from California.to Delaware and from Illinois to Kentucky.

Apparently, admins don't travel from here (or so I've been told); it isn't part of the job description.

What can I say or do to be able to meet these people? I work with a lot of them every  day and would really like to meet them in person.  I would really like to know the "guts" of the corporation and why I do what I do and if I'm the only one being micro-managed by my super or if it's a corp. thing!

Thank you.  -- Susan